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Pop Quiz: AJR on disturbing neighbors and working with Rivers Cuomo

Ryan, Jack and Adam Met grew up together in tight quarters in a New York City apartment.

Ryan, Jack and Adam Met grew up together in tight quarters in a New York City apartment.

Photo: Warner Bros.

Photo: Warner Bros.

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Ryan, Jack and Adam Met grew up together in tight quarters in a New York City apartment.

Ryan, Jack and Adam Met grew up together in tight quarters in a New York City apartment.

Photo: Warner Bros.

Pop Quiz: AJR on disturbing neighbors and working with Rivers Cuomo

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The brothers who make up the indie pop group AJR — Adam, 27, Jack, 20, and Ryan, 24 — got their start busking in the streets of their native New York. The experience not only hardened their DIY ethos, but it also has helped the Ivy League-educated siblings retain creative control of the band as they rise up the charts with hits like “Weak” and “Sober Up” (a collaboration with Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo).

After years of supporting acts like Lindsey Stirling and Ingrid Michaelson on the road, the band members — all of whom play multiple instruments and sing in the group — are currently on their own headlining tour.

Adam spoke to The Chronicle from a stop at the Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans.

Q: You’re about a year into this. How many times have you fantasized about tying a hobo bag to a stick and running away from your brothers?

A: Ha! It’s been really incredible. The first single off of this cycle was a song called “I’m Not Famous,” and that came out 2½ years ago. So we’ve been consistently on the road doing promo and shows and festivals since then. But we’re already working on our next album, which is going to come out in the first half of 2019, so we’re just ready to keep going.

Q: And you still somehow love each other?

A: Yeah, I mean, we each found very distinct roles in the project. We started our own record label and we do everything from designing the album covers to marketing, writing, mixing, producing the music, coming up with scheduling and figuring out how we want to tour. It helps us to get along that we each have our own realms that we focus on, and we really respect each other in terms of each person’s expertise.

Q: I know you guys are all about the creative control, but when you think about connecting with Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo on Twitter to make “Sober Up,” how much does luck play a factor in your success?

A: There’s definitely a lot of luck involved. Sia found us on Twitter six years ago now, and she was the one who introduced us to our manager. And then Rivers spoke to us on Twitter, saying he was a fan of our song “Weak.” We talked to him and asked him if he wanted to write a song with us. We idolized Weezer so much because in the 1990s, and even today, they proved that you don’t need to be that macho male cool frontman kind of a band if you have something clear that you want to communicate.

Q: Looking back, how crazy was it that your parents let you perform in Washington Square Park as kids?

A: I think that was probably the most valuable thing we did in our entire career. Over the last two or three years, our live show and the number of people who are coming out to see us has expanded tenfold. Doing that kind of street performing in the park taught us how to intrigue an audience, especially people that don’t care and don’t want to see you. Now it’s insane that people are actually purchasing tickets to our show when we started out having to convince people who were on their phones or just walking by to stop and listen for a minute.

Q: You made your album in the living room of your family’s New York apartment. Would it be fair to say that even though a lot of people love AJR now, your neighbors do not?

A: Our neighbors have actually become fans. During the first couple years, our downstairs neighbor would come up and say, “Make sure not to quit your day job!” She was an older woman and we were like 14, 15 years old. I don’t think she realized that we didn’t have day jobs yet. But now she’s actually turned into a fan.

Q: For a long time you named the Beach Boys and Kanye West as your biggest influences. Being a socially active band, have their recent political affiliations affected your relationship with their music?

A: Absolutely. We have a song called “Role Models” that’s about that. As much as I appreciate Kanye West’s production, you see him outside of his music space making claims that are not substantiated and supporting people that you don’t necessarily support — it’s really hard to differentiate the art from the artists. It’s something that we still grapple with. I mean, I’m not going to stop listening to “Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” but it is always in my mind, “Who is this artist and what he’s standing for?”

Q: Your song “Burn the House Down” became an anthem for the March for Our Lives movement. Was that unexpected?

A: Yeah, I mean, we did not write the song for it to be that type of song, but the March for Our Lives kids picked it up and used it. They are such incredible kids and they’re doing such great work, spreading awareness of many issues, not just gun violence. To be able to kind of play a small part in that has just been so rewarding for us. The fact that people can kind of listen to our music and hear it in different ways and feel like it motivates them to actually take action and move our world forward has been really amazing.

Q: So a lot of people with kids who are reading this are probably wondering, what did your parents do right?

A: To be honest, we grew up in a tiny apartment in Manhattan and one of the best things for us was all three of us sharing a room for the first 18 years before I went off to college. It kind of forced us to get along. We had triple bunk beds. We didn’t really have a lot of our own space, so we had to kind of just work through it if we were going to live together. I mean, I know it’s not the same when you’re living in places outside of New York — you generally have more space — but being in such cramped quarters, I think actually was really helpful for the band.